Sports & Recreation

Best Sports Bust St. Louis 2000 - Trent Green

Readers' Choice: St. Louis Blues' First-Round Playoff Loss

It's unfair, perhaps, to cite Trent Green in this category: When he was taken off the field with a season-ending knee injury last August, Green had completed an astonishing 28 of 32 passes, for a league-leading percentage of 87.5, and his preseason quarterback rating of 126.6 was the best in Rams history. But instead of a conquering hero's return -- Green is a Vianney High grad -- he was reduced to holding a clipboard and cheerleading on the sidelines, propped up with crutches, as the team he was to have commanded made its unlikely march to an NFL championship under the unheralded Kurt Warner. Coaxed home to St. Louis with a multiyear, big-money contract after a career year with the Redskins in '98, Green now serves as the league's most highly compensated and overqualified backup QB. Given the alarming injury rate of NFL quarterbacks, it's always possible Green will start earning his hefty paycheck by subbing for a fallen Warner, but until that day (which none of us, not even Green, wishes for), he's the bust that made Warner such a bargain.